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Obama’s State of the Union climate call may buy time for EPA

EPA regulations can corral greenhouse gas pollution from the industrial, electrical and transportation sectors, Boxer said, while she will look to address the housing sector. She’s talked about the need to ramp up buildings’ energy-efficiency codes as one way to address climate change.

Boxer is planning to take action as soon as Thursday, when she is due to join Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in sponsoring a bill to “put a price on carbon.” But nobody expects that bill to do more than send a message.

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A background White House document accompanying his speech says Obama “has directed his cabinet to identify additional executive actions from across the administration to help reduce pollution, prepare our cities and nation for the worsening effects of climate change, and accelerate the transition to more sustainable sources of energy, which will be assessed if Congress does not take action.”

Obama devoted more than 600 words to energy and the environment in his speech — amounting to about 10 percent of his remarks.

Still, the vagueness on climate change might be a sign that Obama isn’t planning to move terribly quickly on that issue given the more immediate focus on the debt, gun control and immigration reform. Instead, he may make the issue more of a priority in the latter half of his second term.

“I would put climate change as more challenging than gun control, believe it or not,” former Clinton Energy Secretary Federico Pena said in a phone interview last week. Pena predicted that if Obama succeeds in reaching deals on issues like immigration and fiscal reform, he can build on that trust to tackle climate and clean energy.

“The success of that is going to again show to the business community that they can work with the White House and the White House can work with the business community,” he said.

Gold said the last thing Obama wants to do is telegraph exactly how he’s going to bypass Congress and pick a fight, and specify his game plan in the process.